Fitchburg animal shelter funds sought

DPW chief hopes to make manager full time, add spay-neuter program

FITCHBURG -- DPW Commissioner Lenny Laakso is asking the City Council for funding to make the animal shelter manager position full time.

He also wants to institute a spay-and-neuter program, which has the potential to both assist pet owners and help to reduce the feral cat population in the city.

The item is on the council's agenda for Thursday, but must be sent to the Finance Committee before any votes can be made.

Laakso is asking for $9,245 to cover the rest of the fiscal year to turn the manager position from part time to full time, and $14,900 for the spay and neuter program for the remainder of the fiscal year. The annual salary for the shelter manager would be $34,452 and the full-year cost for the spay- and-neuter program would be $25,000, he said.

According to Laakso, having a part-time manager is simply not enough at a busy shelter with a great deal of responsibilities.

"In addition to caring for the dogs and cats, she's arranging adoptions and she does a lot of outreach in community, appearing on FATV to educate the public and educating school kids," Laakso said of Shelter Manager Amy Egeland. "The physical part of caring for the shelter takes time. They get lots of supplies donated, and that all has to be handled, so it's quite an operation up there."

Egeland also spends a lot of time coordinating volunteers, he said. Laakso said the position would have to be posted so that others have a fair shot and that Egeland would have to reapply.

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Egeland said she's currently paid to work 19 hours per week, but that she always puts in about 40, plus another 15 to 20 volunteering with Animal Care Education Fitchburg, the volunteer group that supports the shelter.

"It's what I do," she said. "When a resident calls, whether it be through Facebook or email, privately or through the shelter, I drop what I'm doing. If they've got an animal, like a stray cat -- and animal control doesn't pick up stray cats from residents -- if someone wants to surrender an animal, I'll help with that."

Or if there's a resident in need of food or other supplies for their animal, Egeland will help with that as well, she said.

Animal intake at the shelter has been steady but has especially increased in the number of cats and kittens, Egeland said.

"We've actually brought in more cats to the shelter than dogs since fiscal year 2013 began," she said.

The most recent numbers she had indicated 86 dogs and 108 cats. Currently, the shelter is caring for 14 dogs and 12 cats. The rest have all been adopted or sent to rescue groups.

There are 16 known feral cat colonies in the city, and spaying and neutering these animals is the only way to keep them from reproducing, Egeland said.

"If we try to get these cats off the streets, get them spayed and neutered and adopted or into rescue groups, we'll help reduce the population," she said.

She's also hoping the program will be able to subsidize the cost of spaying or neutering pets of low-income owners, so that these animals don't end up being abandoned and becoming part of the problem.

"I can't tell you how many calls I get of people wanting to surrender their animals because they can't afford the vet costs," Egeland said. "If we can keep the animals in their homes, that's a win-win."

She said she'd also like to see more activity with the shelter food bank to help residents with food and supply costs.

Laakso said he'd be meeting with the Board of Health on Friday to determine how the spay and neuter program might be run. Egeland said having the city as the fiscal agent would open up opportunities for grants to supplement costs. She'd also be constantly looking around to find which providers have the most cost-effective deals for quality services in order to make the dollars stretch.

Eventually, Egeland said she'd like to see spaying and neutering mandated for owning a dog or cat in the city.

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